Summer In February

WHEN: August 2011
WHERE: Charleston, SC

**re-published 4/20/2013**

I noticed I had a post from last August that I never posted because I had never really finished writing it.  I posted it today along with some added content I wrote today.  However, before you rush back to read it (control your excitement), I will warn you it is mostly about the weather.  OK, it's ALL about the weather.  But not just any weather...summer weather (the best kind)!  And I figured deep in to the winter, a little summer sunshine and warmth may be just what you were looking for.

And so you don't have to bore yourself with all the content in that post (I'll be honest, those posts are really just for myself), I have outlined the highlights of that post, below.

I took this video at our house during an intense thunder shower on August 6.  Doesn't it make you long for summer all the more?  Green grass, thunderstorms, the smell of rain...ahhhh!

 Don't you miss these days too?  The heat index in northern Virginia (in Stafford County, the county adjacent to where my sister lives) was the warmest heat index (129°F) in the world on this particular day (July 22).  The heat index had reached 117°F there before 9am!

Highest indices reported in the world on July 22 (2:53EDT).  Most were in Virginia.

I generated these temperature and dewpoint curves for Charleston AFB (June-August 2011).  The heat indices (purple line) were even higher than this in downtown Charleston, closer to the coast.

The heat index reached 128°F in nearby Kiawah Island on July 13.

It's old news that my favorite season is summer.  But it's months like February that really make me appreciate what summer means to me and how much I dislike it being any season but summer.  It can't come soon enough!